Wedding Planning can be down right overwhelming, stressful, and mentally draining.
I probably should not have started this blog post with that statement but it is the truth and you need to know going into it. You also need to know that because you are not the only one.
Everyone wedding planning is stressed, not sleeping, and consuming their life in Pinterest, Vendor Emails, and constant lists of things to do.
BUT, on the bright side…..your wedding day will come together, it will be okay, and you will have the best day of your life…..I promise!
Lucky for you, I just got married and went through the entire wedding planning process and learned a ton!
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Here are 10 Things I wish I knew while Wedding Planning
1. No One Cares as much as You.
This was a tough one for me. No one specifically said this to me during wedding planning and it was a hard realization.
You expect your Bridesmaids, Maid of Honor, family, friends, and even your future husband to be SO excited or SO involved or even SO obsessed with all the planning. In all reality, it’s not true.
The only person who maybe is as excited as you is your mom and that is still a maybe.
No one cares what color the table cloths are or the song that you chose to enter to. I promise, only you care about the details.
With that being said, make the decisions you want. Don’t let opinions take over your wedding planning choices!
2. Nothing is Too Early when Wedding Planning
In the beginning, there are lots of opinions on timeline and when things should be done.
Everyone will be giving schedules and when they think that everything should be done like when the wedding dress should be picked, the catering, when the bridal shower should be, etc.
That is all false.
This is your wedding and your timeline.
If you want to book your venue first because you know it is where you want it, BOOK IT!
If you know you want this specific cake from a local bakery, ORDER IT!
Nothing is too early in wedding planning because let’s be real: you would rather book too early than too late.
3. Vendors DO NOT need payment up front.
This was something I learned very quickly.
Depending on your wedding planning financial situation, I feel like this benefits everyone.
For almost all aspects of the wedding day (florals, DJ, cake, food, alcohol, rentals, photography), nothing was actually paid for until the week of or the week after the actual wedding.
I was SHOCKED to say the least when I realized that I did not have to fork over thousands of dollars months before the wedding, it was amazing.
Most vendors did want some kind of deposit but it was obviously a fraction of the actual.
My only recommendation is to just track deposits and invoices so you know how much you may owe in the end.
Some vendors do not give an exact dollar amount up front, for example food: just because they do not exactly how much they may end up serving. I would at least ask for an estimate so you are prepared.
4. Have a Written Copy of Everything.
This falls into the previous thing I learned during wedding planning.
Vendors are SO busy and have SO many clients, they may tell you something and not tell another client.
You want to make sure you have written or email contracts in place so everyone is on the same page.
Invoices, timelines, deliveries, dates, contracts, or anything that is relevant to the wedding day commitments.
This is to necessary to protect yourself but also to ensure that you have it on file for your own knowledge when planning the wedding day as whole.
Example: You will want to know what time the cake is delivering to tell the venue to be aware.
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5. All the Wedding Planning comes down to the Wedding Day Schedule/Timeline.
I realized this the week before my wedding……LAUGH OUT LOUD at myself.
The wedding planning process all comes down to 1 single day, therefore, you need a detailed/shared timeline.
I am telling you right now, after finished the timeline of everything for the wedding day……I never felt better.
There are so many vendors, schedules, and different parts of the day that need to be planned. Do yourself a favor and start it earlier than I did.
Even if you have a wedding planner, you need a Wedding Day Schedule. You have a photographer, different deliveries, the time you arrive/depart, where people need to be, EVERYTHING that is involved in that day needs to be on this paper!
Also, the important people need the timeline in hand a couple days before the wedding so everyone is on the same page.
The timeline also helps with family/friends/bridal party instructions.
For example, family pictures can be difficult if no one knows where to go……share that portion of the timeline with them so they know where and when to be at a photo.
6. Your Bridal Party needs your Management.
Sadly, this is true.
You are so overwhelmed with everything you need to do while wedding planning that you hope that your bridal party can be self sufficient on planning bridal shower, bachelorette , etc. But, that is not true.
Depending on how big your bridal party is can make a difference on this. Mine was 8 girls and all different ages, locations, lifestyles so it was challenging at times.
You want to give them direction on your expectations. That sounds annoying but they need it, they might have no idea what you want or expect.
You will also want to share timelines and ensure they have everything they need for the wedding weekend: dress, shoes, hair, makeup.
Because I was a Type A bride, I planned everything except the bridal shower and bachelorette party, they did not have to worry about a lot.
7. It is all about the Guest.
From the beginning, my family drilled this into my brain because it is true.
The wedding day is everything you want but you have to consider your guests.
Again, it all comes down to the timeline. Guests want to have fun and relax at your wedding, they do not want to be standing around being bored.
The main things I realized we had to worry about were food, drink, and entertainment. Those three needed to be given to the guests in a reasonable time during the wedding day to give them a fun day.
You want people to leave your wedding saying it was a fun, enjoyable evening!
8. Over Budget for Small Things during Wedding Planning.
Luckily, we had a lot of financial support for wedding planning. We are so thankful for my family!
However, there are SO many little things that you do not account for as you plan.
My family paid for the “big things” so anything specific or detailed that I wanted, we purchased.
Guest book, table centerpieces, cake topper, you and your grooms outfits, the list goes on and on.
Even though these things are $25, $50, or $100, when you purchase a lot of those items, it truly adds up.
Also, I did not budget for gifts. I purchased gifts for my parents, bridesmaids, vendors (makeup/hair), and my future husband.
Just be aware of the many small purchases that add up during wedding planning.
9. Things take Longer than you Thing on the Wedding Day.
Give yourself more time than necessary on the wedding day.
You think you have a whole, long, wedding day. WRONG.
Once again, it comes down to the planned timeline. Having the written out timeline, ensures you are not late all day.
As far as “things” take longer, this is specific to morning of when you are getting ready for the wedding day. Makeup, hair, getting dressed takes longer than I assumed.
Plan 45 minutes per girl, per hair, per makeup to ensure no one is being rushed. You would hate to have someone rush makeup and then it turn out ugly.
Photographs take way longer than I expected too. Between you/groom photos, family photos, bridal party photos, it takes while (especially if you have a big family and bridal party like we did).
There are so many different pieces of the reception: entrances, dances, cake cutting, buffet, toasts, speeches. I wanted to dance the night away at my wedding so when we started breaking it down, we had to compromise some aspects to time in things we wanted.
Prioritize what you want in your wedding day and add it in the timeline to ensure your day is enjoyable.
10. Don’t Assume Stuff will Happen on your Wedding Day.
This one makes me laugh because it takes me back to the light hearted arguments between me and my mom.
She taught me to not assume things will just happen on the wedding day.
Actually, take that back…..things will get done on the wedding day but you want it has planned as possible because 1. you want it how you planned 2. less stress on vendors or people setting your wedding things.
There are so many little things that you do not think about, I could make a longer list than this entire blog post.
Most of the “little” things that you cannot assume will happen are table settings, signage, transport things from church to reception, guest announcements. A lot of these are simple fixes or easy to ask someone but until you write out what every “room” will look like or when something is suppose to happen and then specifically tell that person the expectation……it won’t happen how you want.
I want to emphasize “happen how you want“. If you don’t tell someone to do something, they will either not do it or do it how they want.
Do yourself a favor and be specific.
If you are not specific on how you want tables set, then maybe not stress it. Only stress things that are important to you because it is your day and NO ONE CARES AS MUCH AS YOU.
We made it through everything I wish I knew (aka I learned along the way) while Wedding Planning.
This blog post shared 10 things you need to know while wedding planning. Everyone is different and have expectations/wants for their wedding day and that is what makes it such a special time in your life!
Enjoy it now, once it is done……it is done and onto marriage you go.
Happy Wedding Planning!
